Cornerstone Insurance’s 2025’s profit drops more than half as FX gains dry up

Cornerstone Insurance’s profit for last year dropped by more than half, relative to 2024’s level, hammered by an end to a windfall income that naira devaluation handed lenders and insurers holding assets in foreign currencies two years ago.

Post-tax profit, its latest audited earnings report showed, declined by 54.6 per cent, after net gain from foreign exchange, one of the biggest drivers of a profit rise in 2024, swung from N30.8 billion to a negative position of -N6.1 billion.

Nigeria’s execution of its most sweeping currency reforms in years, especially the devaluation of the naira to win over foreign investors, triggered a 70 per cent slump in the value of the local unit when weighed against the dollar between 2024 and 2025.

That sent the rate at which the naira was exchanging for the greenback sharply higher, a stroke of luck for Nigerian banks and underwriters with foreign currency-denominated securities, which surged after converting them to the local currency.

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Insurance revenue rose to N51.7 billion for Cornerstone Insurance in the period under review, up by 33.6 per cent, thanks to increased income from its non-life business.

Insurance service expense eased by 9 per cent to N23.2 billion, boosting the company’s insurance service result.

Profit before tax stood at N8.5 billion, compared to N28.2 billion.

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This month, the underwriter announced the kick off of the process to split its general insurance and life insurance businesses into independent entities.

The push conforms to the Nigeria Insurance Industry Reform Act 2025, which scrapped the composite insurance business structure of the country’s insurance industry.

“Under the terms of the unbundling/separation, the eligible assets and existing policies of the general insurance business will be transferred to FIN Insurance Company Limited (“FIN Insurance”), an existing subsidiary of Cornerstone Insurance,” the underwriter said.

“The eligible assets and policies of Cornerstone Insurance’s life business will be transferred to Cornerstone Life Assurance Limited (“Cornerstone Life Assurance”),” it added.